Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

when we were kids in the 40's hitchhiking was a way of transportation if the destination was far. you stood on the side of the road, extended your right arm and with your thumb up you let passing cars know you needed a lift. soon a car would stop and give you a ride. me and norm koski, my next door neighbor decided to hitch a ride to palo creek which was on the peura farm about 8 miles out from lake linden on the bootjack road. when we got there we cut a maple pole about 6 feet long and tied our fishing line to it and were soon in the business of catching brookies. after fishing we came along the creek and in the vicinity of the farm yard where a cream can full of cream was cooling in the creek. norm figured we needed a few swigs of fresh cream so we hoisted the can from the river, removed the cover and started to drink thick cool cream. about that time a farm dog came snarling towards us and in our haste we knocked the coverless can into the creek which soon turned all white. we ran for all we were worth to the main road with the persuing dog at our heels. finally the dog gave up the chase and we were glad to be hitchhiking back to laurium. i'm not proud of this prank but what can i say, "facts are facts".

This is the "big house" where we had all our meals, announcements, coffee all day long, games if wanted, fireplace...It was built in 1913 with the intention to be a dairy farm and a big family. as it didn't happen (land was not suitable for a farm), in the 1934 during the depression, it became a place to help undernourished children. In the 1940's, 30 polio children came to live here to heal and have rehab...they were the overflow from the already crowded hospitals at that time. Afterwards, it became a healing and rehab and learning place for handicap children and adults.

here at bay cliff polio camp is a demo on tai chi; the main demos were on armchair tai chi, for the handicapped. there were many sessions: excercises, handicap travel, aging and general health, caregiver, cardio, even aromatherapy, massage, pain and fatigue, nutrition and healthy eating, and several other sessions.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Two notable spankings come to mind while attending the Charles Briggs School in the 1940’s. The first was one administered to Roy Mukka by Miss Grierson when we were in the 6th grade (Also had her for the 7th grade).

She put Mukka over her knee and proceeded to spank his rump with vigor for something he did that no doubt deserved a spanking. She did not use a belt or a yardstick, only her hand. I can still see his swampers sticking up, his prominent chin sticking out and that “devilish grin” lasting throughout the ordeal, which, with all her exertions, “Girrsy” failed to erase

The second one involved Pete, Fred “Joffee” Juopperi, Ron Palosaari and I when we were in Hoagie’s 8th grade class. We were sent by Hoagie to Miss Flora Sandelin’s office for the offense of tardiness. We knew what was in store. Sandy had us all lined up. Palosaari was the first one in line, and incidentally, the oldest, with Pete being the youngest and me the next youngest.

Ron started bawling, making high-pitched noises even before Sandy wielded the flattened piece of asbestos fire hose she used as a strap. His crying did him no good; he still got his licking---5 good swats on each hand from Sandy who wielded her strap with authority though she weighed but 90 pounds. And Palosaari being the oldest didn’t help his cause with the rest of us.

Pete, Joffee and I started to snicker silently and then began to laugh out loud when we could no longer suppress our smug glee. Here’s an “old guy” bawling—we didn’t see that happen too often.

As a result, Sandy doubled up on us, and I think we had to stay after school while Palosaari got to go home.

It was worth it. And I can’t help wonder what happened to the strap, only that it had a long, illustrious history at the Charles Briggs School.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

this is at the milwaukee art museum. the bldg. looks like a big ship with wings on top. the wings actually open and close each day. very awesome architecture. enjoyed many beautiful old paintings with awesome lighting, and gawked at some awful stuff, like a big grey canvass with a box drawn with chalk in the middle. (go figure?) our good dr. gave us coupons to use.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

back in milwaukee pain clinic for treatments and while here i was thinking about my first trip to zion in june '53. just graduated from chs with twenty dollars in my pocket from my dad and rode to zion with gusti wisuri and henry bergstrom. stopped in humbolt to visit salminen and lehtinen on the way down. roomed with bro al on mcallister in waukegan and after pounding the pavement with kirby frantti for days on end with only rejections i finally tweaked my birth certificate to qualify for a job at johnson motors graveyard shift in diecast. bought a whizzer motorbike for transportation to work and for otherwise, later upgraded to a 29 model a ford. hugo daavettila signed for my insurance cuz i was underaged according to illinois law.after about 6 weeks of factory work i felt there was more to life than midnights in a factory and decided to come back to the cc and enroll in post graduate studies in chs to qualify me for mich tech. just a little aside. since i started my factory shift at eleven and under 18 year olds had to be off the streets at curfew of 10 i would get stopped by the cops and told to go home. couldn't convince them i worked at johnsons so i had to sneak down alleys through waukegan to get to the shore road which lead to the factory. comes under the heading of doing what had to be done to get the job done.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

were back to mukka again now that sept is here and memories of hunting are on my mind. sometimes we would take to the calumet and hecla track leading to lake linden, then go through peltoniemi's pasture and over bunker hill to the mineral range railroad track. i never did research what train went over the mineral range but that is what we called it, the mineral range. walking down the mineral range, mukka with a twelve gauge and me with a single shot 22 we came to a thorn apple tree growing on the side of the grade. on numerous occasions we flushed a partridge from under the tree, shot at it with the shotgun and missed. now when we came to the tree vicinity roy said he is gonna get it this time. i said how you gonna do that, you missed about 5 times in a row, today will make it 6. he said you watch, i will bag it. so he said stop, he lifted his gun, took aim for under the tree, blasted and the next thing a pat was flapping under the tree and then died. so much for seeing and being sure what you were shooting at. he said the bird was always there in the evening so there was no danger of anything else being under that tree but a bird or nothing. i had to admit his method was effective but not recommended by hunter safety rules. but this came under the rule, do what works.

ellen and i are in milwaukee for a few days, seeing a doc who shoves needles in our backs to see if we can get some pain relief. it's called prolo therapy. interesting stuff. 3 days worth. will have to return a few times to complete the treatment. will update the page when we get home.

Memories of Peter

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Sand Point Charters

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